


Ravenpuff Antics

by oh_no_what_plot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Breaking house stereotypes, But they're kids so nothing super serious, Canon Era, Could Be Canon, Dementors, Drama, Friendship, Fun, Gen, Honestly just Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs having fun, House Elves, Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw, Humor, Interhouse Friendships, Ravenclaw, Romance, Solving Mysteries, i guess, made up a bunch of tags for these friendships, this took a turn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2020-04-12 11:59:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19131595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_no_what_plot/pseuds/oh_no_what_plot
Summary: Gryffindors get in trouble a lot, Slytherins are their arch rivals, but what about our other two houses? Well, they deal with antics and actual disastersBasically I wanted to make a fun and light hearted story so here it is!Additionally, there's a murder mystery type thing happening, but it's really just a lot of fun and nothing too dramatic.





	1. These kids are talking way too much for a detention

"Miss Lovegood!"  
  
Luna looked up dreamily at the sound of her name, her eyes travelling up to where her Potions professor was glaring at her.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Yes, _sir_ ," Professor Snape corrected curtly.  
  
"I'm actually not a sir, sir, I'm a ma'am," Luna said, channeling Harry Potter inadvertently.  
  
Snape looked ready to lecture her and - oh, he _was_ lecturing her now. Deciding that she had better things to do than listen to his condescension, Luna looked back at her potion and carried on swirling it round.  
  
"Lovegood!" S barked angrily. "Are you listening? 5 points from Ravenclaw!"  
  
Luna's housemates looked unbothered; they were used to losing points all the time. The Ravenclaw next to her, Terry Boot, even chuckled at Snape's expression. Luna didn't look up, instead continuing with her potion.  
  
"I did not," Snape hissed from next to Luna, "want you to make _this_." He gestured at her cauldron. "I asked for the antidote to poison berries."  
  
Luna beamed at him. "Exactly! I'm making it using an old family recipe."  
  
"The instructions are on the board," Snape said, sounding frustrated. "I expect you to follow them."  
  
"Oh!" she said. "Well, we shouldn't all follow expectations all the time, right? Professor Dumbledore was telling us that the other day."  
  
Snape looked livid as he said, "This is  _my_   _detention_."  
  
"Of course," Luna smiled. "But wouldn't it be wonderful for you to learn how to brew a new potion? This one uses Nargles' blood."  
  
"Nargles have blood?" asked Terry. Luna nodded, before launching into an explanation of how she had acquired this particular sample of blood. As she did, Snape scowled and drifted to the front, muttering about how much he hated Ravenclaws... and Gryffindors.  
  
Across the classroom, Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein were exchanging whispers as they pondered on what exactly everyone had done to get in this particular detention. Luna's reason was the easiest to work out: the way she consistently managed to drive Snape up the wall was simply legendary. Little Jess from first year was probably here for hexing another Slytherin, and her best friend Kerrie seemed to be her accomplice. Wanda from seventh year had probably used wandless magic in Potions again. Michael told Anthony proudly about how he hadn't handed in his essay for over a month.  
  
"Every week I forget, Professor Snape adds another scroll," Michael added, making Anthony shake his head in disappointment. "Why are you here then?"  
  
"Restricted Section," he muttered, remembering how he had been caught in the library at 3am with piles of books about dark magic. "I just wanted to read something about Egyptian curses, but apparently 'students shouldn't be looking around in places they're not wanted'."  
  
"Filch's words?" Michael guessed, to which Anthony nodded.  
  
The two looked over at the final person in the room beside the teacher: their good friend and roommate Terry.  
  
"So what d'you think _he_ did to get here?" Anthony said, and Michael seemed to know who he meant.  
  
"No idea. Did he forget work?"  
  
"No chance. He's the one who keeps reminding us to hand it in on time."  
  
"Unauthorised magic?"  
  
"Can't be, we'd hear about that."  
  
"And it isn't like him to get caught anyway," Michael mused. "He couldn't possibly have cursed someone?"  
  
"Doubt it," Anthony said, but even he looked doubtful at his own judgement. "We could ask, I guess."  
  
"Thanks for volunteering," Michael grinned, patting his best friend on the back and sending him off towards Terry, who was currently pouring some of his potion into a small vial for Snape's inspection.  
  
Sighing, Anthony approached Terry and painted a smile onto his face.  
  
"Hey, Terry!" he greeted. His friend turned around, mid-pour, and waved. The vial overflowed, but Luna leaned over and fixed the problem quickly.  
  
"Thanks, Luna," Terry said, before turning back to Anthony with a confused look. "What's up?"  
  
"We were, uh, just surprised to see you here," Anthony said. "In detention. Without telling us."  
  
Luna giggled as if he had told a joke and Anthony frowned at her, causing her to shake her head and turn back to her strange concoction. Terry, on the other hand, seemed unfazed.  
  
"The usual," he said, making Anthony blink. "I tried to get into the Puffs' common room. Didn't work as well as usual. Professor Sprout knew as soon as she saw the vinegar, but she thought I should have detention with Snape instead because he's supposed to be more mean."  
  
"You go to their common room often?" Anthony said, surprised.  
  
"Sure," Terry nodded. "They have this fascinating debate club - didn't anyone tell you?"  
  
Anthony was half-shocked that Terry regularly went to the Hufflepuff common room and half-offended that he hadn't been invited. Sensing his annoyance, Terry reached over and patted his shoulder.  
  
"I'll ask if you can come next week," he consoled. Packing up his bag and tidying away his materials, he slipped a spare vial of the potion into his pocket. "Are you going to the dorm after this?"  
  
"Yeah, I might as well," Anthony said. "It's getting a bit late."  
  
"Not too late for you, apparently," Terry laughed. "I heard you were caught in the Restricted Section with some banned books."  
  
"Word spreads fast," Anthony mumbled, returning to his seat.  
  
Behind him, Terry turned to Luna and offered the spare vial to her. "You might want the version Snape asked for, to avoid more detention."  
  
Luna thanked him but declined. "This potion - the one I'm making - works, too. I know he doesn't like it, but he has to open his mind."  
  
Terry sighed. "Your choice, I guess. Bye, Luna."  
  
After depositing his vial at the front of the classroom, he left the room with an unceremonious wave to the other Ravenclaws.  
  
Snape watched in disgust as Luna added a daisy chain to her now-turquiose concoction. Lamenting silently about his tragic childhood, he watched the remaining Ravenclaws finish their potions and leave one by one. It was confusing, to him, why so many from the so-called 'smart house' were so incompetent. The very fact that he had to reserve an hour for the weekly build up of Ravenclaw detentions was a clear sign that Flitwick needed to clamp down on this bad behaviour.  
  
With this in mind, Snape slipped from the room and locked the empty classroom behind him. Next week, he thought to himself, he should get them to clean the storage cabinet or something.  
  
Little did he know, there was someone hiding behind him, waiting for him to lose his guard. The person knocked him out with a quiet _Stupefy!_ and pulled out a strangely shaped bottle. Opening the bottle's lid, they squeezed the substance onto his hair and tried to rub it into his scalp.  
  
"About time you shampooed," they whispered, before scampering off into the darkness, their yellow-and-black-striped scarf flying behind them as they ran.


	2. Hey, where's Snape?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The consequences of last chapter, but from the Hufflepuffs' perspective.
> 
> That's it, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's shorter
> 
>  
> 
> I think

Today wasn't the best day that Justin Finch-Fletchley had ever had. Not at all. It wasn't nearly as bad as last year, when he'd been paralysed because of some kind of prejudiced snake. It wasn't even close to the disappointment he always felt when their house inevitably came last every year. No, it was just a slightly bad day.

But bad all the same.

"What's wrong?" Susan Bones whispered from over his shoulder. They were in Charms, and Professor Flitwick was busy tutoring Kevin Entwhistle, so they were all idly practising their Locomotor spells.

Justin turned around to look at Susan, who was in the row behind him. "It's been such a rubbish day."

"Really?" Susan said, raising an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"You know our debate club?" Justin asked, and Susan nodded. "Well, _Michael_ decided it was his business to invite himself in."

"Michael Corner?" Susan clarified with a smirk. "I almost forgot about your little rivalry."

She twirled her wand and muttered the incantation, sending several mini origami birds spinning around each other on the table top. After this little display, she looked back up at Justin and grinned, seemingly having fully assessed the situation.

"You know what you need?" she said. "Interhouse friendships."

"You mean within our house?" Justin said, indicating the rest of the room.

"No, Finch-Fletchley, that's _intr_ _ahouse_ ," Susan snorted. "What I mean is that you should make friends with some of the kids from other houses."

"I know Harry pretty well," Justin tried.

"No," Susan said, waving her wand in one sharp movement and sending hald of the origami birds flying straight towards the back of Justin's chair. "I mean someone you hang out with."

"Nobody hangs out with anyone outside their own house."

"You do realise that our debate club counts, right?" Susan said. "Plus, we have several lessons with the Ravenclaws. That's how I'm friends with Mandy."

"You're friends with Mandy?"

Susan sighed and held up an origami bird. "I don't do origami, Justin. Who do you think gave these to me except for only the best origami artist in the year?"

It took a moment for Justin to realise what Susan was _actually_ asking her to do.

"You want me to..." Justin paused. "You want me to make friends with Michael Corner?"

Susan didn't even have to nod this time for him to know he'd worked it out.

"No way!" he complained. "He is exactly the kind of person who would get overly upset about anything that offends his house. You watch - that's exactly how he's going to lose his next girlfriend."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Everyone has flaws, Finch-Fletchley. Get over it."

The rest of the lesson passed sluggishly, but they were eventually released. Unfortunately, their break seemed to have been cancelled in favour of a school-wide assembly.

Once they reached the Great Hall, the Hufflepuffs sat down on their bench. Ernie slid next to Justin and greeted his friend with a discreet fist bump that Justin had previously affectionately named their ‘ _very_ secret handshake’. They settled down and watched as the teachers filed in with sombre expressions and lowered heads. Professor Dumbledore was last, though Snape was notably missing.

“What happened? Did Snape poison himself or something?” Susan muttered, prompting a giggle from Hannah.

At the front of the room, the teachers finally sat down. There were a few moments of stifling silence before Dumbledore stood up with the air of someone grieving the loss of a dear friend. He cleared his throat once, then again, and then one more time. He seemed unnaturally distressed. A shiver raced down Justin's spine.

“There has been,” Dumbledore began, “a terrible incident.”

A murmur rose among the four tables.

“Last night, someone - a student, we suspect - committed a crime of immense measure,” the usually-eccentric headteacher continued. “Professor Snape, a well-loved member of staff, was knocked into a state of unconsciousness and attacked brutally.”

At this point, nobody looked more distressed than the Slytherins. One of them even burst into tears.

Dumbledore gazed at the dome, which was glowing in the rare morning sun. “This assault involved the use of a particular substance. A substance which we all know Professor Snape is not fond of.” He drew out a white bottle with golden symbols curling around the sides.

Silence.

Most of the students gaped at the bottle, but a few of them suddenly began to laugh, Justin being one of them. Ernie turned to him, bewildered and mortified, but Justin could barely calm down enough to answer his unasked questions.

“This is no laughing matter,” Dumbledore said, though his own curving smile betrayed him. “Children, this is Muggle shampoo.”

The Hall erupted. There was a cacophony of outright laughter combined with quieter snickers, and a few students were gasped with realisation.

“So someone just-” Hannah broke off, struggling to get words out due to her laughter. “Just tried to clean his hair?”

“Who was it?” Ernie wondered. As if in answer to him, one of their fellow housemates stood up and claimed responsibility by brandishing a bottle of shampoo in the air.

“I only meant to help,” the Hufflepuff declared, raising her hands in mock defence.

“Sit down, Miss Prescott,” Dumbledore said, and the Hufflepuff obliged, still looking excited. “I’m afraid that what you have done was very wrong. You shall have to be punished - not only for attacking a teacher, but also for providing him with what many would call… his worst fear.”

Nobody in the Hall seemed to know how to react to this, so carried on laughing. Prescott gave a little bow.

“Your punishment, Miss Prescott,” Dumbledore said, a twinkle visible in his eye, “is to complete the task. You must help Professor Snape wash out the shampoo and, should he need it, condition his hair.”

Prescott gave an almost evil grin. “Of course, Professor. I would be more than happy to.”

And after that, even Professor Lupin couldn’t resist a chuckle beneath his palm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Prescott is actually Gladys Prescott from the HP video games.
> 
> Leave a comment if you have any feedback, hope you enjoyed!


	3. Last year was WILD, right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly half of this is just establishing the time period.
> 
> Also, I know Ravenclaws are supposed to be intelligent, but I feel like not ALL of them are book-smart or even street smart, if you know what I mean. Hence this chapter.

“I have recently made an interesting discovery,” Anthony announced from the centre of the Ravenclaw common room. Some of the youths nearby turned to peer at him, while others chose to ignore him (an act learnt from experience). Anthony was known for his alarming stories.

“What is it?” asked Lisa from where she appeared to be practically clinging onto Michael’s arm.

Anthony shot her and Michael a look of mild disgust for a moment before getting to the point. “You know the Dementors? Turns out, they can’t actually talk.”

The listeners groaned softly, realising that it really wasn’t such a profound discovery, and that this probably meant that the story would be quite typical for Anthony.

“ _Merlin's beard_ , Anthony,” Padma said. “Wasn’t it obvious enough? Dumbledore said not to engage with them. Besides, they kind of have a…” She motioned a wide circle around her mouth to indicate the strange shape of the Dementors’ features.

“I know that!” Anthony protested. “It’s just… I got locked out of the common room, and I couldn’t work out the answer to the riddle, so I thought -”

Already, his friends were burying their heads in their hands and trying to block out his voice.

“-I thought,” Anthony said, “hey, the Dementors might know, they seem very mysterious and wise! So I approached them -”

“Why would anyone do such a thing?” Michael muttered under his breath, and Lisa agreed quietly.

“-and I asked them about the Enlargement spell,” Anthony said. “The riddle was kind of about where the matter came from to make _Engorgio_ work, you know? So these Dementors didn’t really say anything, but then one of them kind of opened its mouth - except its mouth was already open - and I figured they couldn’t speak at all. Then I left-”

“Thank Merlin,” Terry said.

“- and came right back here!” Anthony finished. “Someone else had arrived by then, so they let me in.”

Now even those who had originally attempted to ignore him were staring at him and shaking their heads tiredly.

“Are you one hundred percent sure you’re not a Gryffindor?” Padma questioned. “Only people in that house would actually pull a stunt like that.”

Lisa and Michael nodded, both well aware that recklessness was not often found among Ravenclaws.

Terry still seemed baffled. “Aren’t they supposed to ignite fear? Weren’t you terrified?”

Anthony puffed out his chest in pride. “I was! And I got out alive!”

Looking concerned, Terry pulled Anthony onto the sofa next to him. “You need rest. Facing Dementors is supposed to be very draining. It can make you faint.”

“Especially if your first name is Harry and your second is Potter,” Michael joked, making Lisa snigger.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Padma said. “He probably has a worse reaction because his parents... you know…”

Immediately, Lisa stopped and Michael’s face turned solemn.

“In this episode of ‘Death is a Taboo’, we have three smart Ravenclaws who can’t talk about one of the most famous murders in the last century,” Michael said with a small smirk.

“Come on, guys, of course Harry’s more affected than us! Haven’t you read up on Dementors?” Terry said.

“What, you did?” Michael asked.

“Strange and scary creatures come to ‘guard’ our school and keep attacking the school’s favourite pupil,” Terry said. “Who wouldn’t want to investigate a little?”

After a few more minutes of discussing the Dementors and how likely they were to turn on the students and kill them, the door opened and Mandy entered with her Hufflepuff friend, Susan.

“Where were you? You missed the most _riveting_ story,” Padma chuckled.

Both girls spoke at the same time:

“Duelling practice,” said Mandy.

“Detention,” said Susan.

The other third years had still been tittering over Padma's comment, but this reaction instantly caught their attention. They spun around in unison, alight with inquisitivity.

“Really?” Michael asked, drawing out the vowels.

“Which one?” Lisa said, looking mildly amused.

Susan and Mandy exchanged glances.

“We were in detention… because we were caught dueling,” Mandy answered.

“To save the sanity of everyone in this conversation,” Terry said, “I’ll just give you fair warning that _nobody believes you_.”

“Gee, thanks,” Mandy said, pulling a face at Terry. Meanwhile, Susan looked slightly abashed at being caught out. Hufflepuffs apparently weren’t as cruel as Ravenclaws in their interrogations.

“We were just hanging out,” Susan said. “You know how it is. We can’t have interhouse interactions in public anymore. Not after last year.”

“Oh yeah,” Anthony said. “Remember when everyone was confused about what the monster was, as if they hadn’t seen Slytherin’s literal logo?”

His friends smiled at the memories from the last year. Padma remembered how everyone had been frenzied, even the non-Muggleborns. Michael remembered how the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at the time had boasted about knowing all about the monster but couldn’t even work out what it was. Lisa remembered borrowing a copy of Fantastic Beasts and wondering why one part had been ripped out, before realising that the entry that was missing was the one about Basilisks. Terry remembered Ernie ranting to him about how Harry was _definitely_ the Heir, even though everyone knew that he was in Gryffindor and that he seemed just as clueless as always. Susan, however, had not shared such bright memories.

“You knew?” she gasped. “We could’ve done with that information - especially after Justin was attacked.”

“We thought you knew,” Terry said honestly. “We figured you guys were all faking ignorance to avoid attention from the Heir.”

“Except Lockhart,” Michael put in. “He was clueless.”

“I thought he was charming,” said Susan.

“You thought wrong,” said Mandy.

“You know,” Michael said, suddenly remembering an abandoned train of thought, “you guys can hang out here. We don’t mind interhouse friendships and all.”

“Yeah, no worries,” Padma added. “Besides, I myself go to the Gryffindor common room now and then to check up on Parvati. She and Lavender get into messes all the time because of, like, giggling at the wrong moment or something.”

“Yeah, I witnessed that once,” Terry mused. “It was not pretty.”

“Never mind _that_ ,” Anthony burst out suddenly. “You’ll never guess what happened to me!”

“Here we go again,” Lisa sighed, as Anthony began to relay the events all over again. She cocked her head to the side and turned to Michael. “Hey, do you have any pineapple?”

“ _Why on earth would I have-?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters that have been first introduced in Chapter 2 or later come from the either the video games or the Original Forty list. Credit for those names goes to Wikia.
> 
> Please comment any feedback! I've written the next few chapters so they should be up soon!


	4. Protective spells just don't work like they used to

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Hufflepuffs have to deal with -
> 
> Oh well, you'll see.

The night was young, the castle was alive, and Hannah Abbott had been caught.

“Miss Abbott, what are you doing here?” asked Professor Snape. “This is nowhere near your common room.”

Snape, she observed, was looking particularly angry today. She guessed it had something to do with the clean sheet of hair hanging down to his shoulders; his hair had been washed thoroughly and completely.

“Wow, sir,” Hannah said, putting on the most pretentious tone she could manage. “Gladys did a great job with your hair!”

Snape’s eyes darkened momentarily. “Ah, yes. Miss Prescott is in your house, is she not?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Give her a message,” Snape said. “Tell her that she must _stay_ _away_ from my hair, or I shall be forced to consider… severe consequences.”

His tone was drab and slow, and Hannah wondered how on earth he ever managed to fully get through a lecture at such a pace.

“Ok, professor,” she said instead. “I’ll do that now.”

She managed to get a few paces away before he stopped her. “Miss Abbott, wait right there!”

Reluctantly, she turned to look his imposing figure. He towered over her, his black robes making him seem impossibly tall.

“Yes, sir?”

“What are you doing here?”

She made a few quick decisions. “Me? I got lost.”

“How long have you come to this school?”

“Two years, sir.”

Snape glared at her with fire burning in his eyes. “Then learn to stay away from the dungeons during your free time.”

“Oh! This is the dungeons?” Hannah pretended to gasp. “I can’t believe it! I thought it was a fun little maze!” Her friends would know she was just being sarcastic at this point, but Snape did not catch the meaning of her tone.

“The dungeons are not _fun_ ,” Snape said, and Hannah hastened away before he could question her further.

Once she was safe in her dorm, she opened her bag. She had been in the dungeons to pick up a few materials from Snape’s classroom. He had confiscated some of hers some time ago, so she supposed that it was only fair that she should take some from _his_ storage cupboard.

With her ingredients scattered around her, she began to make her potion, her cauldron balanced precariously on a makeshift table made from books. Her dorm mates wouldn’t mind, considering the types of spells they practiced in the room.

Susan came upstairs after an hour or so, and appeared quite surprised at the sight of Hannah brewing something  _ outside _ of lessons.

“It’s a little late for this,” Susan commented, settling on her bed and watching Hannah's cauldron intensely. “I’ve been all the way to the Ravenclaw common room and back, including a nice long talk about Dementors.”

“So that’s where you were,” Hannah said. “With Mandy Brocklehurst, I presume?”

“And the other third years,” Susan said. “They’re not actually as snobby as the others said. One of them actually tried to talk to a Dementor, you know.”

“No way,” Hannah laughed, momentarily pausing her stirring. “You’re joking!”

Susan started to describe her trip to the Ravenclaw common room, while Hannah carefully extracted some of the potion. She pulled out a paintbrush and dipped it into her concoction, before drawing strange marks on the door and around the beds.

“What  _ are _ you doing?” Susan asked.

“Protective spells,” Hannah replied easily. “There’s a mass murderer on the loose, Susan, and I’m taking no chances.”

Susan leaned over to look at the book Hannah had taken the recipe from. “This looks fake, Hannah.”

“Worth a shot though, right?” Hannah said. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

And, of course, that was what jinxed it.

The next morning, all of the girls in the third year Hufflepuff dormitory woke up with a very strange feeling. Only Susan and Hannah had any clue why, but they simply didn’t have the capacity to tell their friends while in their current state.

Meanwhile, the boys went straight to class, assuming that the girls had already left. Ernie’s first lesson was Transfiguration, though he noticed his friends’ conspicuous absence as soon as he entered. Exchanging a very confused look with Justin, he asked Professor McGonagall if she had seen them. McGonagall replied in the negative, but reminded them that they could only check the common room during break.

The morning decided to pass quite slowly, but Hannah and Susan still didn't turn up. Finally, at break, the two boys raced back to the common room and tried to ascend the dormitory stairs to the girls’ rooms.

Little did they realise that there was an enchantment on the steps.

After an incredibly embarrassing few minutes, they figured out that they would have to send a girl upstairs.

“Hey, can you please go up and check on our friends?” Ernie asked the nearest Hufflepuff girl. Her friends tittered, but, thankfully, she agreed to have a look.

As soon as her feet touched the smooth stone slide that the stairs had turned into, the corners rematerialised and soon brought the rest of the steps with them. Ernie and Justin watched in mingled awe and irritation as she jogged up the stairs easily.

“This is so unfair,” Justin mumbled. “They let girls come up the boys’ stairs.”

“To be fair,” Ernie replied, “I can imagine that this enchantment was placed in a time where men had very few boundaries. Some still don’t,” he added, nodding his head in Zacharias Smith's direction.

Justin snorted, and they both waited for the girl to come back down. Finally, she arrived downstairs, a black dog nestled in her arms.

“Aren’t dogs banned here?” Justin asked immediately.

“This dog isn’t mine,” the girl replied. “I found her in the third year dorm.” She lifted the dog up to her face and smiled at it. “She’s cute, isn’t she? I love puppies.”

“But they don’t have a dog…” Ernie said slowly, trying to process this new information.

The girl lowered the dog to the floor and looked at the boys, arching a brow. “No, they have five.”

“What on earth?” Justin said under his breath.

The dog, which was now sitting on a table, barked insistently. Ernie turned around to pick her up, but the dog had other ideas. She seemed to be looking for something.

“Hey, how many girls are there in that dorm?” the girl who had brought the dog asked suspiciously.

“Five,” Ernie said.

“Five girls disappear, and five dogs appear…” The girl looked at them meaningfully.

Justin gaped at her. “Genius! They turned into puppies!”

“What a wonderful decision on their part,” Ernie sighed. Then he looked at the dog - no, the Hufflepuff - that was now lying on the table. “Is it just me, or does she look like a Grim?”

“A what?” Justin said.

“Let’s not get into that,” the girl said. “What’s important is that you turn them back.”

“Right,” Ernie agreed. “I will find an appropriate spell.”

“Wait, we’re skiving class for _extra_ _reading_?” Justin said in horror. “Nothing about this sounds good.”

“Good luck,” the girl laughed. She rubbed the dog’s back. “See you when you’re human again.”

With that, she left the boys alone with their one remaining brain cell.

“So… to the library?”

“Yeah. And bring the dog!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'll be updating more regularly from now on, as I have a little more free time. I expect there'll be around 10 chapters in this whole work.


	5. These Dementors are really bad at riddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ravenclaw girls are efficient and Ravenclaw boys are... conflicted.

The Ravenclaws didn’t hear about the whole dog situation until the evening, when a group of frantic Hufflepuffs burst in, laden with books on Transfiguration. They seemed to have been let in by a frightened first year. “Oh, hi-” Mandy began, but was rudely cut off by Ernie.

“Thegirlshaveturnedintodogsandwedonotknowhoworwhyandweneedyourhelpimmediately,” he gasped out.

Mandy blinked. “Wait, repeat what you just said,” she said. “And calm down, if possible.”

“Susan, Hannah, the others,” he repeated, slower this time. “They’re dogs.”

“Is this a subtle way to insult them or…?” Padma said.

“No, look!” exclaimed Justin, pointing at a dog that was half-heartedly trailing after them. “That’s Susan.”

“You want us to turn them back?” Padma asked. “Your own spells didn’t work?”

“Exactly,” Ernie said. “Should we leave Susan with you?”

“No, we need to determine the cause of this Transfiguration,” Mandy replied, but the Hufflepuffs were already leaving. “Hey, no! Stay here!”

“Oh, Merlin,” Padma said. “This is going to take longer than I thought.”

The two girls agreed between them that they should check out the Hufflepuff dormitories first, and carried the tired dog all the way to the Hufflepuff common room. Using Terry’s instructions, they entered without an acidic disaster and went upstairs to where the other Hufflepuffs directed them. In the dorm, looking after the other four dogs, was a Hufflepuff slightly older than them.

“Oh, good, Ravenclaws,” she said, standing up. “I’m Poppy, fourth year. I’m the one who found them here, so I kind of feel responsible for this. I’ve been keeping an eye on them since lessons ended.”

“You didn’t have to,” Padma said.

“I didn’t mind,” Poppy shrugged. “They’re the most obedient dogs I’ve met.”

Mandy crouched down and inspected the edges of the bed nearest her. “Hey, do you see this?”

Padma copied her and noticed glowing writing wrapped around the bottom of the bed. “They tried to use a protection spell.”

Standing up, she gave the room a quick search and found a book on Hannah’s bed. It was open on a page with a protection charm.

“So?” Mandy called.

“The whole page has been torn out, except the title,” Padma realised aloud. “Hannah must’ve been reading the spell behind it instead!”

“What’s the spell behind it?” Poppy asked, lingering in the doorway.

Padma gently flipped the page. “It’s something to do with giving clues about where someone is. Like a location spell but also like a riddle.”

“If this is to do with Sirius Black, how are dogs related to him?” Mandy wondered.

There was a moment of quiet.

“Maybe he has a dog?” Poppy suggested.

“Sirius is a constellation of a dog, right?” Padma said.

“Could be a symbol?” Mandy joined Padma and peered at the book. “Hey, look! A cure!”

The ‘cure’ turned out to take a long time. While Padma scouted for ingredients, Susan prepared the potion and Poppy stopped the dogs from leaving the room. They made the potion with meticulous care and created the necessary marks on top of the already existing ones that Hannah had drawn. After this, they all collapsed on one of the beds and waited for the spell to work.

Two hours later, the dogs Transfigured back into young girls and immediately fell asleep on the floor. The Ravenclaws sighed and helped move them into their beds.

“Wow,” Padma muttered. “We should’ve just gone earlier.”

“Thanks for the help,” Poppy grinned, waving as the Ravenclaws left.

When they re-entered the common room, Lisa was waiting for them.

“What took you so long?” she scolded, before promptly dragging them up to their dorm as they chortled at her expense. Just another day, they supposed.

Meanwhile, the Ravenclaw boys were having what one would usually call a catastrophe.

It seemed that the Dementors had taken Anthony’s approach the previous day as an invitation to friendship, because they had come all the way to his window to greet him. It was Michael who had seen a hooded figure at the window and screamed, but the whole dormitory was alerted to its presence.

“What the-” their roommate Oliver Rivers said, jumping back. “How is that thing even here?”

Anthony approached the glass and tried to see if the Dementor was floating. “Oh, no. This is… this is both creepy and a little funny.”

His room mates took a look as well and Michael cursed. There was a long line of Dementors stacked upon each other, all gazing up at their window. Their robes draped down over the face of the one below, giving the impression that the D at the top had just stretched upwards and reached the window like a black-clothed vine topped with a rotting head.

“This is awful,” Terry mumbled, sounding anxious. “If they can get here so easily…”

Michael cursed again, but louder. “What if they want revenge?”

“Is this because of me?” Anthony whispered.

Oliver drew back. “You asked them a question, right? Maybe they found an answer?”

“No way,” Terry said. “Don’t you dare open that window. Let’s get Flitwick.”

“No, open it!” Oliver urged.

Anthony tapped the glass and tried to shout through it. “What was the answer? Where does matter for Enlarged objects come from?”

The Dementor didn’t move at first. After a tense moment, its robes shivered and a decayed hand rose out of the black material. The blackened skin rubbed against the icy glass of the window as the Dementor seemed to draw something. Where it touched, the ice grew thicker, so that white frosty lines soon formed. The boys stepped back and tried to read the message.

“It’s just a symbol,” Michael said. “A rune, maybe?”

Anthony picked up his Ancient Runes textbook and thumbed through it. “Found it! It means… death.”

“I think that’s a threat, not an answer,” Terry said unsteadily. He turned away. “I’m going to Flitwick.”

“No, no, no,” Oliver protested, grabbing his arm to prevent his escape. “I want to see what happens.”

“I’m with Terry,” Michael said. “I really don’t feel like watching a Dementor’s Kiss.”

After a short but heated debate, Anthony finally settled on going back to bed.

“We can tell Flitwick in the morning,” he insisted. “Besides, it’ll be gone by then.”

They all got back into their beds and fell asleep one by one. Only Terry stayed awake, listening in dread as the Dementor still scratched away at the frozen window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I actually have the next one lined up to be published tomorrow!


	6. Let's all just stop to appreciate Susan's folding skills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plot? Maybe? Well, it's on its way!

Up in the school owlery, Susan fished her letter to her aunt out of her pocket and carefully folded it into a neat little rectangle. Slipping it into an envelope, she tied it gently to one of the school owls’ leg as Mandy watched her, looking awed.

"How do you fold your letters so perfectly?" Mandy asked. "It's so satisfying!"

Shaking her head, Susan chuckled at her friend. "Just good practice."

"How many letters have you written?!"

Susan decided not to answer that question. "Why did you follow me here, Mandy? I know it's not just to watch me fold letters."

"It could be, since you fold them like  _ that _ ," Mandy said. "But you're right - I came about the whole puppy thing."

"The what?" Susan frowned.

Mandy sighed. "Please tell me you remember that you guys were dogs for an entire day. It was literally the day before yesterday!"

"What?"

"Great, you forgot." Mandy started to explain the whole situation. By the end of her story, Susan was shocked and confused.

“How did that even happen?” she muttered. “Why would someone rip out an entire page except the title?”

“I have no idea,” Mandy said. “Though I’m definitely going to ask the Eagle about it.”

It was common practice for the Ravenclaws to use their own riddles to try and get in instead of answering the riddle given to them. At some point, the door knocker - the ‘Eagle’ - began to accept confusing situations as riddles as well. Currently, the Eagle was a part time consultant and counsellor and reigning Ravenclaw wizard chess champion (which is a whole different story).

“You could have asked the Eagle about how to fix our dog situation,” Susan said thoughtfully.

Mandy laughed. “No, Hannah left enough clues for us to figure it out. But hey, if you turn into anything else, we can still help.” Then she paused. “Wait, if you haven’t heard about this, does that mean the boys haven’t told you themselves?”

“Nope. You’re right, that is weird.”

“They seemed really stressed about it when they stormed into our common room the other day.”

“Huh.”

Susan let go of the owl and watched it soar through the arch, its slate-grey tail feathers fluttering against its back. There was something beautiful about these creatures, in her opinion. They were wise, according to most European folk stories, and seemed to intuitively know exactly where to go and who to find. They could probably find wanted criminals, she thought.

“Why don’t we use owls to hunt out Sirius Black?” she said aloud. Mandy, who had been stroking her own owl, looked up, surprised.

“Why should we?”

Leaning backwards against the rails that barred her from falling off the tall tower, Susan replied, “These owls know exactly where everyone is, right? Why doesn’t anyone train them to find missing people?”

“I never thought about it,” said Mandy.

The pair of girls fell into silence. Susan watched a tawny owl feed from one of the feeders scattered across the room and felt a sudden urge to eat something. However, breakfast wasn’t for another hour, so she decided to wait up here. She had risen particularly early that morning so that she could send a letter to her aunt confirming that yes, she was safe, and that no, there had not been any attacks since her last letter.

She heard a soft hoot and turned her head to the sound. A distinctly white snowy owl was watching her, and Susan got the strong feeling that she knew far more than Susan herself.

“Any idea whose that is?” she asked Mandy quietly, and her friend looked up just as the snowy owl hooted again. “Or is it a school owl?”

“Don’t you recognise it?” Mandy said, sounding amused. “That’s Harry's owl.”

“Harry Potter?”

“Who else?”

The owlery fell into content quiet again and Susan let her eyes close. She hadn’t had much sleep, what with waking up so early, and she found herself nodding off. She barely noticed the owl swooping past her as her breathing deepened and her mind slowly shut down.

“Susan! Susan, wake up!”

Jerking up from where she had been sitting against an arch, Susan found herself face to face with a desperate looking Mandy.

“Oh, thank goodness. We have to go down for breakfast at  _ some _ point, you know,” the Ravenclaw said. She held out a hand for Susan to grab and pulled her to her feet. “Alright, let’s get going. I heard you Hufflepuffs like your food.”

“Firstly, that’s a blatant stereotype,” Susan complained, following her friend down the winding stairs, “and second,  _ everyone _ likes food.”

“Except maybe You-Know-Who,” Mandy said.

“Why not?”

“Your sense of taste is strongly linked to your sense of smell. Therefore, he can’t taste anything.”

Susan gasped. “You just blew my mind.”

At the breakfast table, Susan slid next to Hannah and grinned at her. Hannah simply raised an eyebrow.

“Where were you this morning?” she asked.

“Had to send a letter,” Susan shrugged.

“You went on your own?” Ernie said, and Susan suddenly acknowledged that he was sitting straight across from her.

“What, is that a crime?”

Ernie gave her a dark look. “You’re not the criminal I’m thinking about.”

It took a few seconds for his words to click in her tired brain. “Sirius Black?”

“You know any other trending criminals?” Hannah said. “Besides, he’s been sighted. It’s in the morning paper.”

Susan leant over and saw that Hannah was right - and that Black appeared to be getting closer to their school.

“Wonderful,” she muttered.

“Next thing you know, he’ll be seen in Hogsmeade,” Justin said. “Then he’ll break in  _ here _ .”

“Like last year,” Hannah agreed. “Things get worse and worse and then, boom. Harry Potter saves the day.”

“Hey, he’s our own personal shield!” Susan joked. “All the trouble happens to him, so we don’t get affected!”

“I don’t think it works like that,” Ernie said solemnly, and the group quieted and stared at Ernie in confusion.

A different voice interrupted them from the front of the room:

“Students!" called Professor McGonagall. "All Hufflepuff third years are to go to their common room for urgent checks."

Susan's friends exchanged tired glances.

"And so it begins," Justin said.

***

"It's nothing really," Professor Sprout said to the students surrounding him. "I just needed a reason to meet you all. Other Hufflepuffs are reporting hearing loud noises from the kitchens, and I just need you lot to check it out."

"Why not ask the older years?" Hannah asked, fidgeting with one of her long plaits.

"The fifth and seventh years are busy enough with exams, and - well, this is the last year you'll get that is truly free of responsibility." Sprout shook her head. "I don't think it's too much of an issue, probably just another elf who hasn't quite mastered the art of cooking."

"Is there a time limit to this assignment?" Ernie questioned, straightening up at the prospect.

Sprout thought for a moment. "See what you can do by Christmas."

Ernie saluted, and Susan gave her teacher a nod.

* * *

 

"We will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is also ready, so I might start posting regularly (but don't take my word for it)!


	7. It's sad that we know that these two will end up breaking up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravenclaws are recruited. Also, romance! (That's a lot of 'r's)

Michael and Lisa strolled by the lake, arms linked and eyes on each other's bright faces.

"Isn't the weather just wonderful?" Lisa said, voice carrying over the edge of the lake. "It's so strange that we're the only ones out here."

"I prefer it this way," Michael smirked. "It's quite romantic."

Lisa giggled softly before pausing by a tall tree, which gave them a bit of cover. "I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Do you think we'll survive?"

Michael blinked. "Survive what?"

"I mean…" Lisa shrugged, her expression hesitant. "If the NEWTs and OWLs don't kill us, then You-Know-Who might."

"He's dead, Lisa."

"You genuinely believe that?"

Michael didn't answer.

"We're Ravenclaws," Lisa said. "We're supposed to figure this out, right?"

"Yep, creativity and imagination will save the day," Michael snarked.

"Look at what happened last year! Who knows how long it'll be until Petrification becomes death, and memories of evil lords become real?"

"Wild imagination," Michael said. "That's all this is."

Lisa looked at him closely, her eyes conveying something close to disappointment. "I suppose."

"I don't know," Michael said quickly. "Maybe you're right. Maybe - hopefully - I'm right, and he's gone forever."

"Hopefully?"

Michael rubbed his forehead. "But life's never really that fair, is it?"

"No tale this dark ever ends with an accident," Lisa said. "You-Know-Who will come to some other fate, one made for him. But not this one."

Michael nodded, and held her closer to him. They talked about nothing for a while, their worries washing away as they discussed the latest news.

Finally, Michael stumbled upon the topic of a celebrity couple breaking up.

"They didn't have much chemistry anyway," Lisa said. "They were doomed from the start!"

"Unlike us," Michael said, leaning closer still.

With a small laugh, Lisa detached herself from his arm and started to run, hands thrown outwards. Michael watched in surprise as she danced around.

"What's made you so happy?" he called. She spun towards him and gave him a quick kiss before dragging him into her tango.

"You didn't realise? It's been a month, Michael!"

"A month since what?"

He found himself being tossed one way and the other by Lisa's excited twirling. She finally finished, pressed up close to him with her face so near to his own. "A month since we started dating, Knutbrain!"

"I knew that," Michael protested, making Lisa's eyebrows rise.

"I bet," she said.

Just as Michael opened his mouth to give another defence, a firework exploded above the lake. Then another appeared almost directly after, and then another exploded just below.

"Oh," Lisa said, her face breaking into a beam that lifted Michael into the air a couple of feet. "That's so sweet!"

The sparks formed their names, before reforming to form the word: Lichael. Lisa gasped in delight and leant in to kiss her boyfriend, who looked slightly stunned.

Not too far away, Padma and Terry stood under an umbrella, watching the happy couple.

"He's lucky we were here," Terry muttered, lowering his wand. Padma copied, and the lights above the lake faded. "Thanks for tipping me off."

"Lisa wouldn't shut up about their anniversary," Padma chuckled. "I'm just glad she wasn't disappointed."

Terry gazed at his best friend, who was still making out with Lisa. "They are kind of cute together."

Padma gave him a quizzical look. "Are you jealous or something?"

"No," Terry snorted. "We're, like, thirteen. I don't know anyone else in our year who's even considering getting a girlfriend or boyfriend."

"That's because you're oblivious," Padma said, amused, as they walked away. "My sister and Lavender Brown have fed me with enough gossip to last until Easter. You know that blond in fifth year?"

Still chatting, they slowly left their friends by the lake, the cold rain pattering on their magically formed umbrella.

***

Lisa walked into her dorm, her face the definition of joy and her clothes the definition of wet.

"Merlin," Morag gasped, before rushing to the bathroom to fetch a towel.

In the corner of the room, Su looked up from her book and sighed. "It's far too cold for these shenanigans with Michael, Lisa. Stay indoors."

"It was so romantic!" Lisa finally said, after breathing out very, very slowly to express her blissful state of mind. "There was fire… and rain… and he was so sweet!"

"You made out, didn't you?"

Lisa glared at her. "Yeah."

Morag rushed into the room, holding a towel and followed by a slightly concerned Mandy. She wrapped Lisa up and gave her a nod.

"Ah, Mandy." Su closed her book and smiled benevolently. "You owe me two Sickles."

"What? They made out?" Mandy said. "But it's raining!"

"You guys are betting on me?" Lisa said in horror.

"Hand over the money," Su reminded, and Mandy groaned.

Finally satisfied, Morag sat down beside Su and eyed Lisa to ensure she was drying herself properly.

"I just came up to tell you guys I had interesting news," Mandy said, looking irritated. "Susan told me that she and the other Huffpuffs have a mission."

"Ooh, tell us more!" Lisa grinned.

"Professor Sprout told them there are some strange happenings in the kitchens, and they are to find out wha-"

"Wait," Morag interrupted. "The kitchens? I was banned last year, I can't help."

"I'm busy as well," Su said. "I took on an extra few subjects."

Lisa gave Mandy a thumbs up. "I can do it."

"Padma, what about you?" Mandy asked, before realising that Padma wasn't even there. "Hey, where's Padma?"

"She left the common room with Terry, like, an hour or so ago," Su supplied.

"Are they-?" Mandy began, but was cut off by Padma bursting into the room as if on cue, her face flushed.

"Come to the Hall, now," she panted out, before spinning and turning just as hurriedly as she had arrived.

The girls exchanged glances before following their dormmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will next update either tomorrow or Sunday - I'm still working on the next chapter but I'm halfway through! Thanks for reading!


	8. No running (or fighting) in the hallways, kids!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! Action?!
> 
> In this chapter, Ernie is just chilling with his Ravenclaw buddy when he encounters hostility over... what exactly?
> 
> And we also find out what's going on in the Hall.

Ernie sat opposite Terry in the Great Hall, chortling at a joke his friend had just made. He was just formulating his reply when he heard a low roar close behind him.

"Duck!" Terry yelled, and the two boys leapt under the table. A blue flash of light passed overhead, passing through where Ernie's head had just been.

"What is wrong with you?" Ernie scowled, rising from his hiding place.

The attacker lowered his thin wand and snarled: "Get off our table, Puffer."

"Leave him alone, Yutaka," Terry said. Yutaka, who seemed to be a Ravenclaw, turned on him.

"What are you doing fraternising with the enemy?" he hissed to the younger boy. Ernie drew his wand at the hostility.

"The 'enemy'?" Ernie said, noting the approaching Ravenclaws that seemed to be Yutaka's backup. "What one earth are you talking about?"

"Stand down, both of you," Terry repeated, getting to his feet.

" _ Silencio _ !" Yutaka aimed his curse at Terry, who tried in vain to escape the spell. "This is between us and the Hufflepuffs."

Ernie narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"You heard me, Puffer." Yutaka approached Ernie, wand poised to shoot another spell, and Ernie edged away slightly.

"Explain," Ernie said, quickly double checking that Terry was still there as he got ready to flee.

With a sneer, Yutaka came closer still. "We all know what your house is up to. Don't think you can defeat us all that easily."

"I thought you were supposed to be clever," Ernie replied, "but you're clearly wrong. Us Hufflepuffs aren't doing anything to you."

"No need to keep up the lie," the older Ravenclaw said. "We just want you to tell us how you managed to fool even Dumbledore."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ernie finally cast a shield charm in front of him before grabbing Terry's arm and breaking into a run.

He wouldn't have made it across the room if a few older Hufflepuffs hadn't covered his back and let him get back to the common room. Once they were safely inside, Ernie finally stowed his wand and turned to Terry.

"What was that about?" he asked, but got no answer, just a raised eyebrow. "Oh yeah, the silencing charm."

Once Terry was able to speak again, he immediately started to explain what was going on (which was a relief).

"They think you're messing with their food," Terry said, as a small crowd of third year Hufflepuffs gathered to see what the fuss was about. "One of the kids in our house had a reaction to the pumpkin pie - his favourite dish - and now everyone seems to think that someone has started adding something… different… to the food."

"What about the Slytherins?" Justin asked. "They have a worse reputation."

"It's an ingredient we traced back to Hufflepuff," Terry said. "Forensic magic or something - they do it in Potions in higher years."

"That can't be right," Hannah protested. "How would we get it past the elves?"

"They have theories." Terry shrugged. "I think it's all nonsense. You don't seem to have anything against us."

Susan seemed pensive. "Sprout mentioned a disturbance in the kitchen… d'you think that's what this is?"

"All I know is that we need to get on with this investigation," Hannah decided, getting off the sofa and leading the way over to a nearby table. "Come on, let's get planning!"

The others migrated over to her, leaving Terry with Ernie.

"You could've told me all of this before," Ernie frowned.

Terry suddenly found the floor very interesting. "I kind of forgot. We are having so much fun talking about everything else, I forgot about all the inter-house conflict."

After a moment, Ernie smiled. "That's fine, but now you owe me a favour."

"What do you need?"

Standing up, the Hufflepuff held out a hand. "Help us find out what's  _ really  _ going on in the kitchens."

Terry grinned and took his friend's hand. "I'd be honoured."

***

Ernie was the first to arrive in the Hall, having heard the yelling. He hadn't been willing to return, given what had happened just minutes before, but he couldn't help it. There had always been that natural curiosity, and some part of him that cared.

The scene that unfolded in front of him was nothing short of alarming. Yutaka and his buddies stood on top of the smooth wooden surface of the Ravenclaw table, facing the Hufflepuff table with their wands raised threateningly. The state of the Hufflepuff table was no better, with several teenagers in similar offensive positions. All around them, students milled about nervously.

"What's going on?" asked Justin, who was just behind him.

"We need to get Professor Sprout," Ernie responded, eyes glued to the scene before him. He faintly heard Justin and Susan run off, Hannah staying behind to watch.

Across the room, the third year Ravenclaw girls appeared, looking bewildered.

Padma swam through the stagnant crowds and straight towards Ernie. She looked very determined, like a single fish fighting against the tide.

"Terry!" she called to where her friend stood next to Ernie. "What on earth is going on?"

Somewhere outside of the stunned bubble Ernie was in, Terry and Padma met and started a hushed discussion. He supposed it was about the whole fight in front of them.

Finally, someone fired a spell and broke his stare, forcing him to take a few steps back to avoid the deflected spell. Then it all went downhill, with every student on the table - and some who weren't - duelling, great armies fighting over a vague situation.

Minutes later, Terry and Padma were talking to a few seventh years, who turned and cast large force fields between the warring houses. At the same time, Professor Sprout and Flitwick arrived through the same door, wands twirling as they disarmed every student within their sight, Justin and Susan at their heels.

"Enough!" Flitwick shouted, surprisingly loud over the din. The Ravenclaws immediately stopped and some even hung their heads. Then the Hufflepuffs stopped in confusion.

"Amano! Cholderton!" Sprout barked. "Come to my office and explain yourselves now!"

"Amano?" Ernie heard Padma whisper to Terry. "As in Yutaka Amano?"

"Yep," said Terry, sounding tired.

Who even was Yutaka Amano?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please like and comment! Also, if you have any ideas for mini subplots, feel free to tell me! I only have a vague idea of the main arc.


	9. Now we get to find out who Yutaka is!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally discuss the debate club. There's some drama and a couple of arguing people. Mandy is Done.

Yutaka Amano.  _ Yutaka Amano. _

Michael frowned. "He cursed you?"

"It was just a silencing charm," Terry said, shrugging. He was lying on his bed, exhausted after the events earlier, his eyes shut as he relayed the story to his best friend. "It was just weird that it was Yutaka who cast it on me."

"Weird is one way to describe it," Michael muttered. He sat down heavily on Terry's bed, and his friend let out a tiny 'oof' as the bed shifted.

Michael had always considered Yutaka a fairly genuine person, and had often consulted him for help with studies. But from what Terry had told him, he seemed like a two-faced jerk. Either that, or Michael was making a big deal out of this.

"So you were hanging out with Ernie?" Michael asked. "... Was Justin there?"

"No worries, I would never betray you and hang out with your worst enemy," Terry chuckled, opening an eye. "I mean, unless he just happened to be with Ernie, because then it would just be rude."

"You would never."

"Never what? Be rude?"

Only half-consoled, Michael tugged the pillow out from under Terry's head and whacked him with it. Terry laughed and sat up to properly speak to Michael.

"Can I just ask: did you join debate club because you actually wanted to debate or just to torment Justin?" he said, recalling how often Justin was defeated by one of Michael's annoyingly smart arguments at the Hufflepuff debate club.

"Let's just say I started coming for the first reason," Michael replied simply, smirking.

As they started recounting the last debate, the door slammed open with a fury barely present in their dormitory.

"What," said a familiar, angry voice, "the f-"

"Do not finish that curse or, so help me, I will hex you into oblivion," threatened another familiar voice, though this one sounded a lot more exhausted.

The two came into view. It was Lisa and Mandy, the former being the furious one.

"Lisa!" Michael yelped, jumping to his feet. "How did you get here?"

"I climbed the stairs," Lisa said, still seeming disgruntled despite who she was talking to.

"Yeah, but," Michael began, "you're a girl, and we can't enter each others' dorms."

"No,  _ you _ can't enter  _ ours _ ," Lisa said. "Now, onto the real issue -"

Michael looked ready to try and question this further, but Terry pulled him back down by the back of the shirt and shook his head disapprovingly like a disappointed teacher.

"- what was going on back there?" Lisa finished, ignoring the boys.

"I'm telling you, Lisa, they were up here!" Mandy said, as if she'd been saying it all the way here.

"I wasn't," Terry said.

"I was," Michael said (unhelpfully).

"And where were you, Mr Boot?" Lisa said, hands on hips.

"I was in the Hall."

Mandy facepalmed.

"So you know what was going on." Lisa looked triumphant. "Good, you'll be excellent for our investigation."

"What investigation?" Michael interrupted. "Why am I not included?"

"I didn't think to tell you," Lisa admitted, having the decency to look a little guilty. "I mean, when was the last time we even talked?"

"Literally an hour ago, outside," Michael said, his expression darkening.

Mandy shot Terry a significant look to signal that this was heading nowhere good, and Terry nodded.

"Um, the investigation?" Terry asked, making the couple cease their glaring.

Puffing up her chest a little, Lisa smiled. "I have been recruited into an investigation into what's been happening in the kitchens recently. Now I am inviting you to join. Do you accept?"

"Oh,  _ that _ investigation," Terry said. He turned to Michael. "That was coming up later in the story."

"Right," his friend mumbled, still looking annoyed.

Mandy rolled her eyes. Everyone in this room was a mess, and she needed to get Lisa out before -

" _ Right _ , so you knew about that already," Lisa said. "Guess I'll be just as useful back in my dorm, huh?  _ Thanks _ ." She spun around dramatically and, just before leaving, turned to face her boyfriend. "You know, this started out as one of the best nights, and now it's one of the worst. The only thing saving you is those freaking fireworks."

And with that, she slammed the door again, eliciting a 'jeez' from Mandy.

"She got Disarmed by Flitwick," Ma explained after they were sure L was gone. "Since then, she's been…"

She waved an arm to represent Lisa's bad mood, and the boys agreed silently.

"I didn't even make the fireworks," Michael said, still feeling shell-shocked.

"I know," Terry said, and Michael's mouth fell open in realisation.

"You were spying on me?"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Mandy said, raising her voice. "Michael, you better talk to Lisa in the morning. Terry, you have terrible timing."

With that, she followed her friend.

The boys stayed in silence for a bit, Terry returning to his position lying down and Michael looking miffed.

"Why were you watching our date?" Michael finally asked.

"I got a tipoff that it was your anniversary, and figured you'd need some help," Terry responded, eyes still shut. "You didn't mention it earlier, so, you know…"

"A tipoff?"

"Padma told me. She  _ is  _ Lisa's roommate."

Michael wondered how exactly he'd missed seeing anyone helping out. Had Padma been watching too? Wait, when had Padma and Terry even become friends?

"Terry-"

Before Michael could finish, however, the door burst open yet again and revealed Oliver.

" _Yutaka Amano_?" he yelled, and Terry groaned.

"Yes."

"As in, the guy who mentored us for a year? As in, our brother from another mother? As in-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is. The chapter title is fulfilled. Can I go home now?
> 
>  
> 
> Also, yes, I did double the number of expected chapters. I finally realised that maybe one chapter isn't enough to address the conflict.


	10. Chapter 10: Triple Chapter: In the Kitchens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And here's a triple chapter I've been working on. There's Action, Drama and loads of Confusion. Enjoy!

Justin stared at his associates for a few seconds, barely able to comprehend the situation. When he finally regained the ability to speak, he simply said:

"I have to do  _ what  _ with  _ who _ ?"

Warily, Terry repeated what he had just said to shock Justin so much. "You need to wait here with Michael."

"Why  _ me _ ?"

"Come on," Lisa said, exasperated. "It'll only take five minutes."

"You're kidding, you've got to be." Justin took one look at Michael and had to turn his head away in disgust immediately. "No way."

"There's nothing wrong with him," Terry said. "Besides, he can hardly come with us, can he?"

Michael nodded.

Rolling his eyes, Justin finally agreed. "Five minutes."

As the others filtered out, leaving him with his rival, he sank glumly into the ground next to Michael, who chuckled ominously.

"Forget seven minutes in heaven," Michael whispered, a wicked glint in his eye. "This is going to be seven minutes in hell."

Justin covered his eyes. How did he even get into this situation?

***

REWIND TO EARLIER THAT DAY, AT BREAKFAST

***

The sausages on Justin's plate were still sizzling when he heard the first piece of bad news that day.

"The Ravenclaws are helping us with the investigation!" Susan said with a huge grin on her face.

Justin groaned internally. Not those stuck up, stupid kids with their noses in books.

"That's great!" Hannah smiled. "Who's involved?"

"Mandy, of course, and Lisa and Padma," Susan listed.

"And Terry," Ernie put in.

_ But not Michael _ , Justin assured himself.

"So, by extension, Michael and Anthony, I suppose," Ernie finished.

Justin cursed silently.

"We don't need 10 people in our team," he protested. "We're just checking the kitchens."

"Mandy and I worked out the details," Susan said, giving him a nod. "We'll split into teams for each different task. Mandy, Padma and Anthony will work on finding out more about the Ravenclaw who got poisoned; Ernie, Hannah and I will try to work out of there's any foul play on Hufflepuff's part; and the rest of you can go to the kitchens."

"I have to be in Michael's team?" Justin said, horror struck.

"I told you to make some interhouse friendships," Susan said. "It's the perfect chance!"

"Yeah," Ernie said. "I'm friends with Terry, Susan is friends with Mandy, Hannah is pretty good friends with Neville Longbottom."

"Wait, when did that happen?" Justin interrupted.

"Don't question it," Hannah said.

"Anyway, we're checking out our allocated sections tonight, just before curfew," Ernie continued. "A recipe for disaster, yes, but the only suitable time for such things. All the students will be in their common rooms, and the house elves will be a little less busy."

"Besides, we have Sprout's permission for this investigation," Susan said. "Foolproof."

Justin sighed heavily and took a bite of his now cold sausage. "Fine."

***

JUST BEFORE CURFEW, OUTSIDE THE GREAT HALL

***

"Hey, Terry," Ernie greeted, nodding to his Ravenclaw friend. Mandy gave Susan a friendly hug. Justin almost cried when he saw Michael.

"Let's get to it," Padma said, drawing her wand. "Come on, Mandy, Anthony. Time to ask Yutaka about what's up."

Anthony, who Justin hadn't really noticed, shrugged. "Yeah, ok. I have less beef with Yutaka than most of you."

"He cursed Terry and attacked Ernie," Michael said with a completely straight face.

"I retract my previous statement," Anthony corrected. With a snort, Mandy pulled him and Padma away.

Justin watched in horror as his friends left as well, abandoning him. Now all he had to accompany him was his archenemy and his girlfriend and best friend.

What a nightmare.

***

As it turned out, it really wasn't that bad. On the way to the kitchens, Terry started to discuss debate ideas with Justin - a common interest, he supposed - and Lisa refused to talk to Michael, which was extremely amusing to the Hufflepuff.

When they finally entered the kitchens, the elves all stopped their work to look at the newcomers. After two seconds, they were scurrying around like large mice, collecting together ingredients and making tea.

"Would Masters and Madam like a cup of tea or some coffee?" one elf asked, bowing a little.

The students exchanged surprised glances.

"Uh, I'll take tea, I suppose," Michael said.

"Coffee, please," Justin said almost straight after. He shot a glare to Michael. They had nothing in common, and he was determined to spite Michael’s every decision.

"I'll take a coffee, too," Lisa added. Unbeknownst to Justin, Lisa had similar intentions: to isolate herself from her boyfriend after the drama of last night.

Seeing the power play, Terry hesitated. "I'm good, thanks."

Out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw Michael cross his arms and nudge Terry in annoyance. Justin cackled internally.  _ Payback for that last debate _ .

"Of course," the house elf said, bowing again and running off.

"Actually, Professor Sprout sent us to ask some questions," Lisa said, and several elves turned up at her feet seconds later. "She heard there were some disturbances in the kitchens recently. Have you seen anyone enter without permission? Or anything unusual at all?"

The house elves froze and seemed to telepathically have a conversation. Faintly, one elf with rather floppy ears stepped forwards.

"I'm very sorry, miss," she said. "I dropped some pans the other day, and there was quite a loud noise. I think that may have been the problem. I shall never do it again."

"Are you sure that was it?" Michael frowned. "Nobody came in and added anything to any food?"

An elf came forwards with the tea and coffee and distributed it. Justin tasted his coffee. He couldn't deny that it was good, but he absolutely hated coffee, so could barely enjoy it.

Michael broke away from the group, tea already drained, and headed over to where the pumpkin pie was being made.

"I'll just check this out," he announced, before taking a small sample of the pumpkin stew and tasting it.

The reaction was immediate. Lisa rushed forwards to try and stop him, Terry covered his face tiredly as if used to Michael's antics before going to help out, and the elves all stared in confused horror.

Why, Justin wondered, had he done this?

Michael coughed and collapsed into his friends' arms. Slowly, they let him down onto the floor and checked to see if he was awake. Justin just watched as he woke up and assured them he was fine.

The house elves could not have looked more surprised and guilty.

"We will remake the whole stew," they assured the assorted third years. "We are so sorry, miss and masters."

With that, the kitchen was bustling with activity.

***

PRESENT

***

"So you were faking being affected by the stew?" Justin said.

"Yup," Michael responded.

"Why? So you could ridicule me? Torment me?"

With a light grin, Michael shook his head. "Not really. You may not believe me, but I actually want to be your friend. Or, at least, not your enemy."

"You're right," said Justin, with barely a moment's thought. "I don't believe you."

The Ravenclaw gave him a sombre look and they sat in silence as they waited for the others to return from searching the rest of the kitchens. The awkwardness hung in the air like a bad stench, and Justin got closer and closer to breaking the silence. Even the elves were all gone, having decided to attend to some situation in the Ravenclaw common room.

Out of the quiet emerged a hiss, and the boys stood up in a flash, spinning to see what had caused it. In the back of Justin's memories, another, deadlier, larger snake echoed this hiss and slunk closer to him, its bright eyes flashing. The Basilisk.

He staggered backwards, mind reeling with the events of last year: the Petrifications, the fear, the way he missed so much in what felt like only a short nap. In front of him, Michael turned his head and gave Justin a puzzled expression. His terror must have been obvious, because Michael drew his wand and faced the threat head on.

"What's out there?" he called, and a figure in a hooded cloak whipped around the corner and out of sight, a vial falling from behind them and smashing to pieces on the floor. "Hello?"

Michael kept his wand out, blocking Justin from the place the figure had disappeared, until the receding footsteps faded and the only sound left was their heavy breathing and the liquid in the vial fizzling on the ground.

His breathing finally calmer, Justin regained his balance and caught Michael's shoulder. "I think they're gone."

Michael stood down, looking perplexed and frustrated. "They must have known that snake impersonation was a sore point for you."

"Why would they do it, then?" Justin asked, pulling a face.

"They were probably trying to poison the food again, and saw us here so tried to get away. It's not a bad idea."

Justin gave his rival a sour look. "Thanks."

They waited a little longer before Michael spoke up. “Maybe you should talk to someone about the whole Petrification thing. You seem a little sensitive to it.”

“You know what, Michael?” Justin growled. “It really isn’t your business. So stop thinking that a trick and an apology will get me to spill my guts out to you.”

"Wait, I didn't-"

But the Hufflepuff didn't want to hear it. He abandoned Michael to the silence of the main kitchen and started to search for Lisa and Terry in order to tell them he was going back to his common room.

***

Heaving a breath of relief, Justin re-entered his common room, tearing his cloak off and throwing it over the nearest empty chair. When he finally looked up to see what was going on, he gasped and almost fell over in shock.

There, standing at the centre of the half destroyed room and surrounded by terrified Hufflepuffs, stood a very angry Yukata Amano.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT'S YUTAKA DOING THERE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, WHICH WILL BE UP IN A FEW MINUTES IF THE INTERNET IS ON MY SIDE


	11. Triple Chapter: The Ravenclaw Common Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIPLE CHAPTER TRIPLE CHAPTER TRIPLE CHAPTER

It didn't start off as a disaster. At first, Mandy and Anthony were perfectly calm, and Padma wasn't in the least worried. But now? Well, now that wasn't quite true.

It's best to start at the beginning, when Padma, Mandy and Anthony were in the Ravenclaw common room, pretending to chat quietly but actually keeping an eye out for anything strange.

As they approached the older student they were to question, they overheard a snippet of nearby conversation:

"What do you mean?"

"It's a Grim, Nathaniel! You saw a Grim!"

"... a what?"

"It means you're going to die!"

The third years exchanged sceptical glances and carried on their journey to where the bookshelves were more sparse. Here, surrounded by a few friends and holding a half-open thick book, sat Yukata Amano.

He looked up and recognised them almost as soon as they walked into his little nook. Surprisingly, he seemed quite glad to see them.

"A! And is that Padma and Mandy?" he grinned. "How are you guys?"

Anthony blinked. Was this the same person who got a month of detention for attacking people last night? It seemed more like… actual Yutaka, the nice mentor who befriended them way back in first year.

Padma was quicker to react.

"We'd be fine, but we're a little alarmed," she said, her voice full of faux fear. "Is it true that our food is being poisoned?"

Yutaka's brow furrowed. "We're pretty sure. Nathaniel Douglas had to go to the hospital a few days ago, and we traced the food's origin back to two places: the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room."

"The Hufflepuffs did this?" Anthony said disbelievingly. "I can't imagine it."

"We couldn't either, but the evidence is right there," said one of Yutaka's friends.

Evidence? Anthony didn't ever stop at the obvious evidence. There had to be something else going on, and maybe the Hufflepuffs had been dragged in accidentally.

"Why did you attack Ernie and Terry?" Mandy said, getting straight to the point. Yutaka straightened and pulled a face.

"So that's what that kid was called," Yutaka noted. After that, he addressed the actual question. "I didn't mean to drag Terry in, I just wanted to make a statement. You know."

"I don't," Mandy said bluntly, though her tone remained friendly.

"We can't have the Hufflepuffs think they can poison us without consequences!"

Padma entered their thread of conversation. "Are you sure it was them?"

"It had to be," Yutaka said. "Who else has a yellow and black tie? We traced one as the origin of whatever was in that pie."

Well, that sounded pretty concrete. Anthony frowned. Maybe they really didn't need evidence. Could it really be so simple?

"Hey, what  _ is  _ that?" Yutaka suddenly said, pointing at one of the windows, where a large symbol had been drawn on the surface.

Anthony almost screamed. "The Dementors. They're back. And they're after me."

Without waiting for someone to reply, he bolted away and through the tall shelves. Numerous books began falling, culminating in a huge, thick trail of books blocking access to the other shelves. Anthony checked back and saw what he had done. He didn't have time for regret. He just had to get away.

As he rushed out of the great doors, some students outside began thanking him, but were cut off by him running straight past, followed shortly after by Padma, Mandy and finally Yutaka. All of them missed the house elves that started appearing everywhere to quickly and silently clean the mess.

"What is he talking about?" Yutaka asked Mandy as they all ran after Anthony. She shrugged.

"The boys do all sorts of weird stunts. He's probably just paranoid."

They chased him all the way to the hall just off the Great Hall, and then Yutaka lost the rest of the group as he was distracted by some news about the OWLs. He saw that they had disappeared and cursed.

"Where did they head?" he wondered aloud, before his focus zoomed in on a group of nearby first years. Hufflepuffs.

They were probably faking Dementor attacks to distract the Ravenclaws from the truth, to carry on their plot to poison Nathaniel.

He had to stop this. Stop this awful plot, this illegal poisoning, this bullying of Anthony.

"You! First year Hufflepuffs!" he called, propelled towards them by his desire to end this whole debacle.

***

Padma hung back from the chase, noticing a large commotion nearby. Hoping that it wasn't yet another fight, she split from the group and tried to work out what was going on.

It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. The whole corridor was distorted by the heavy spray of something acidic that was coming out of the barrels on the middle of the corridor. Padma recognised them as the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. In the midst of the spray, several Hufflepuffs of various ages and appearances were engaged in a fistfight with -

Yutaka Amano. For Merlin's sake.

"Stop!" Padma yelled, and received a mouthful of vinegar. She spat it out before pushing through the crowd and pulling the older Ravenclaw away from the scene. "Get out of here! Go back to the common room!"

It seemed that the Hufflepuffs had other ideas, however, as they leapt into action and restarted the fight. Padma groaned and waved her wand, creating a shield. Through its blurry surface, she could just about see the whole group of angry students drenched in vinegar, their wands still stowed and their fists flying. Yukata was a surprisingly good fighter, as he dodged their attacks and ducked under their crowded bodies.

"Let me in!" he shouted, pushing at the barrels. "Let me IN!"

Padma was about to try to intervene again, but the thing she needed the least just  _ had  _ to happen:

The door was opened from the inside.

By Ernie.

Yutaka's eyes widened. "You!"

Ernie gaped in response, before mustering up a similar "You!"

"Both of you!" Padma said. "Stop this fight and help me - ah, too late."

She was right. The two were already brawling like wild animals.

"Sure," she muttered, removing her shield. "Let's just keep on being ridiculous while Padma, the only functional human being here, cleans up our mess."

She stalked up to the entrance and shifted the barrels to a position where the vinegar was directed at the floor, causing it to pool at the base of the barrel stack. As the air cleared, some of the students forgot their rage and started looking around to see why their battleground had changed. Taking advantage of the confusion, she cast a spell she'd learnt quite recently and managed to Vanish most of the vinegar.

By now, Ernie had stopped and was staring at the entrance to his common room with mingled horror and irritation.

"What now?" Padma asked him, folding her arms. "You want to mess up another part of the plan?"

Ernie blushed in shame and his head tilted towards the floor. "Sorry. And also, sorry for letting him in."

With a frustrated growl, Padma swung into the Hufflepuff common room and beheld the common room. "How did he manage to blow it up so soon? He's been here  _ less than 2 minutes _ !"

"I didn't do this," Yutaka defended.

"Then who did?" Padma said, her hands at her hips and eyes roving for other suspects. Hannah and Susan were standing in the corner, staring at Yutaka in absolute bewilderment. Did they know what had happened? Had they caught the poisoner?

"It was them," Yutaka said, pointing at Padma's acquaintances. "I saw the one with plaits lower her wand just before the room exploded!"

It was too much of a coincidence. Had he seen her look over at them? Or was this also to do with the investigation? Padma drew her wand smoothly, and heard a murmur behind her.

"Don't," Ernie said from nearby, but he seemed distant. Padma gave him an odd look.

"Don't what?"

He snapped back from whatever he had been thinking of. "Don't accuse them. You can't believe him. He is… unhinged."

Padma thought back to just minutes ago, when Yutaka had greeted them just as usual, looking more than glad that they were there. She remembered how he was suddenly violent when he saw the Hufflepuffs.

"Something is going on," she said quietly. "Something bigger than the poisoner."

Ernie stared at her. "What is it?"

"It's-"

But her words were cut off by someone else gasping and entering. Justin Finch-Fletchley. Why was he here? Had Michael chased him off?

"We told Michael to try and be nice," she muttered under her breath. "Why didn't he listen?"

_ So many questions _ , she thought.  _ She'd get answers tomorrow, when this was all over. _

Yutaka started speaking again. "I swear, it wasn't me! I just came here! Padma was with me, she was right there, she saw me enter just minutes ago! How could I have done this?"

Many eyes turned to Padma.

"Did he do it?" a seventh year asked, serious and serene.

Padma gulped.

"I don't know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY DID THE ROOM BLOW UP? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES (OR SECONDS IF YOU'RE READING THIS ON DEMAND)


	12. Triple Chapter: The Hufflepuff Common Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last one for now, but the next chapter is written up and ready to post so expect that maybe tomorrow? Yeah, just enjoy this action before it all gives way to actual theory and plot.

"I feel a little bad, saddling Justin with Michael like that," Susan said as the three friends made their way to their common room. "Maybe we should have organised this differently."

"It'll be fine," Hannah assured her. "Come on, this is going to be great fun!"

She tugged her friends through the entrance and into the soft yellow expanse beyond. It was quite empty today, so the Hufflepuffs began their search among the few that were present in the common room.

The first few were intrigued to learn about the whole incident, but after a while, the three friends realised they wouldn't get answers this way. In fact, many of the responses became:

"Is that what the fuss is about?"

"Tell me more!"

"Me? Why would I know about this?"

And this wasn't going anywhere at all.

"We need to ask if anyone has seen anything suspicious recently," Susan decided. "Maybe that would help."

They set off again, disturbing all of their fellow Hufflepuffs another time. This time, the replies were more irritated but also more useful. Eventually, they gathered that someone had been having secret meetings here every evening for a week not long ago.

"I just wanted to do my studies," said one girl, tossing her books away in an annoyed fashion and shouldering her bag. "I kept being interrupted by someone muttering away to themselves, and there was someone else replying. Imagine that! Having a private conversation at three in the morning!" She turned to leave to the library. "Now let me go and find somewhere else to study in  _ peace _ ."

She left in a huff, her footsteps loud and angry.

"Who could it have been?" asked Hannah. "How are we supposed to find out?"

"Was it even to do with the whole incident?" added Ernie. "Maybe they were just worried about Sirius Black."

Hannah went quiet, thinking about how the school had reacted to the threat. For the first month, many had been a little thrilled as they didn't really perceive any danger, but recently, people were getting truly worried. After all, the approach of the mass murderer was disturbing even to the boldest of them. Neville had told Hannah all about how his house were becoming quite unnerved. Hannah was worried that everything would go wrong again, like it did last year - though hopefully, nobody would be hurt.

They wandered over to the fireplace and Ernie split from the group as he went to get a snack from the kitchens.

"I can check on the others while we're there," he said. With that, he headed away from the warmth of the fire.

As he walked off, a familiar face came to replace him: Poppy Caxton. "Hey girls!"

She'd introduced herself the other day as the girl who had looked after them while they were… not human. Since then, the three had been getting on very well and often had conversations about everything from homework to pets.

"Poppy!" Hanah greeted with a huge smile. "How are you?"

"Great, thanks," Poppy said. "I was just going to use the fireplace for a potion. Do you mind?"

"Sure," Susan said, moving aside to let Poppy set her things down by the fire and sit down. "What are you brewing?"

"Just some class potion," Poppy said, carefully adding her ingredients and stirring the dry mixture. "It sort of… seeks the truth."

"We could really use that right now, huh?" Hannah grinned, kneeling so she could watch the older girl brew her potion.

Poppy gave her a bright smirk before tossing in the rest of her ingredients and watching them cauldron begin to bubble. After a few moments, the potion bubbled over the edge and hissed as it leaked into the fire, which immediately shrunk. Hannah and Susan frowned at the remaining embers.

“Here, let me help,” offered Hannah, raising her wand and standing so as to aim at the fre and release a spell that would make it roar again. “What’s the spell aga-?”

But before she could say another word, the whole fireplace blew up, sending a gust of air towards the students. They toppled backwards, barely managing to stay on their feet, and shouted in terror as they watched the flames burn through the room quickly.

A tall Ravenclaw burst in and stared, him mouth wide open and gaping. “What on earth?”

Hannah lowered her wand, eyes wide as she took in what had happened. After a second, she looked over at Poppy, whose expression practically radiated guilt and horror. Thankfully, it seemed that the flames had been harmless to living creatures, but the room was still half-burnt.

Padma and Ernie toppled into the room, the latter looking like he had stumbled out of a fistfight, and also surveyed the damage. Padma’s eyes met with Hannah’s across the room and she gave her an alarmed but curious look.

There was a short conversation as one of the older students started to discuss Yutaka with Padma, and Padma didn’t quite look as certain as usual.

“I don’t know,” Padma said in answer to the older student. “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But didn’t anyone see what actually happened?”

There was a general murmur around the room, mostly about how they hadn’t seen the cause of the damage, only the effect. As this occurred, Hannah slowly migrated over to Padma and joined her in conversation with Ernie and Justin - who were here for who knows what reason.

“They saw the effects, not the cause,” Padma was musing as Hannah walked over. Then she turned to send her a short smile. “You know why this happened?”

“Kind of,” said Hannah. “And it wasn’t because of Yutaka.” She looked over at Poppy. “Trust me - it was an accident. The person who caused this regrets it.”

Justin gave her a weird look. “Are you implying it was you?”

“No.”

“Never mind that,” said Padma, seemingly having made a decision. “We need to get Yutaka out of here before there’s a riot. We can work out what everyone’s discovered in the morning. For now, calm your house down!”

Without any further hesitation, she pulled Yutaka out of the room and away, probably to the Ravenclaw common room. Hannah watched as they left, wishing she could leave this situation as easily. Thankfully, the seventh years took over managing the rowdy students, guiding them to their dorms so that the common room could be cleared and cleaned by the elves overnight. Hannah sat in the corner with her classmates, watching quietly as her friends shared stories in the background.

As she was seated there, her closest friends snuggled in the couches around her and the mess slowly fading away, she realised that this wouldn’t be quite so easy. Even if they found the culprit, even if they expelled them, what good would it do? The tensions between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had been building for a while, as if they had to be rivals just because the other houses were. Hannah didn’t want that. She knew her friends didn’t - both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff ones. But no matter what, the tension would snap at some point, and Hannah didn’t want to know what kind of consequences would be there when they did.

“You good, Hannah?” Susan asked kindly, wrapping an arm around her friend. “You look absolutely shattered.”

“I could do with a hug,” Hannah admitted, letting herself be smothered with friendship as they all joined together in a group hug (a rarity, but something that everyone could do with a little more often).

Tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow she’d find out what else had happened elsewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIPLE CHAPTER WHOO
> 
> I'll clear things up next time, and I think they may catch the culprit around chapter 15? Who knows, not me. Maybe I'll just add some more funny scenes afterwards, because this wasn't meant to have plot.
> 
> Comment any ideas!


	13. Let's clear up ANY confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have finally gotten to writing some kind of plan, on which I have written the Truth as well as all the clues leading up to it.
> 
> This is basically a chapter where our two favourite Ravenclaw detectives do smart stuff and you know, we recap.

Tired from the events of the previous night, Terry practically slept through the conversation between ‘Team Ravenpuff’ - a name Anthony had settled on the second he saw the Hufflepuffs approaching the table. After each team had recounted their story, he finally lifted his head from his arms and blinked wearily at them. They all looked to him expectantly, with the exception of Padma, who was giving him a raised eyebrow. Clearly, she was the only one who could see that he was barely even awake at this point.

“So, you know who did it?” Ernie asked, as if he really thought his friend could figure out the solution to the mystery so quickly. “I mean, the poisoning, of course. We know Poppy blew up the common room.”

“Accidentally,” Hannah muttered, and Susan nodded resolutely.

Terry gave them a confused look. What exactly had he missed while dozing off on the breakfast table? Which common room had been blown up? And who was Poppy?

“I still think it wasn’t a Hufflepuff,” Justin put in, and Terry just about noticed that he was looking quite cold at that exact moment. “Maybe a Ravenclaw was just trying to frame us. Wouldn’t be the first time they used tricks against us.” Justin shot Michael an icy glare, and Terry recognised regret in his best friend’s eyes.

What?

“It was probably a Hufflepuff,” Anthony said, “judging from what Hannah told us about that secret meeting at midnight.”

“Too much is happening at once,” Lisa said, back in her usual spot beside her boyfriend and sipping a cup of tea (yet another thing that Terry didn’t quite understand, though his brain was starting to process things a little better now). “I don’t like it at all.”

“It was probably Yutaka,” Ernie mumbled, and Padma shot him a look.

“Last night proved that he’s not the only one that can resort to violence,” she said. “Besides, I think the question is less of a ‘who’ and more of a ‘why’.”

“So what do you think, Terry?” Mandy asked.

Terry gave them all a very long, vaguely confused stare before completing the task he had lifted his head up to do: picking up a piece of toast. As he began to munch on it, still trying to piece together what he had just witnessed, he heard Padma chuckle behind her hand and saw his friends all release sounds of annoyance and disbelief.

Finally having finished his first bite, he said: “So let me just clear up something very quickly - did something happened to the Hufflepuff common room last night?”

After a few groans and a short explanation from his friends, Terry finally understood what exactly had occurred last night.

“Ok, so what you’re saying is that someone tried to sneak into the kitchens with a vial of some kind of potion; an older Hufflepuff without a relation to the poisoning blew up the common room while trying to make a poison; and Yutaka tried to storm the Hufflepuff common room because he thought they were controlling the Dementors?” he clarified.

“Don’t forget about the mob of Hufflepuffs fighting in the midst of flying vinegar,” Padma added.

“Naturally,” Terry said, slowly trying to clear the fog surrounding the issue. Padma was right, he decided. They needed to find the motive to find the culprit. “Padma, do you think any of the events are connected?”

“It would make sense to create a distraction in the common room,” Padma said, but her face conveyed clear doubt. “I’ve met Poppy, though. She helped us when we were dealing with a group of five puppies that somehow turned into humans.”

The Hufflepuff boys coughed and Terry nodded. “Oh, that girl.”

“Yeah,” she said. “She seemed pretty friendly with us, and we’re Ravenclaws, so that can’t possibly be a good lead. Right?”

“Makes sense.”

“Then again, why didn’t she try to make that potion in a lab if it was something she was studying?”

Hannah cut in. “Maybe if it was a protection spell?”

“Yes, maybe she did think that using a protection spell in her room would be smart,” Susan said, throwing shade like the Weasley twins threw out pranks. “Hmm.”

Hannah made a pseudo-shocked gasp, and Padma continued.

“Finally, I think Yutaka is probably innocent in this,” she said. “He’s impulsive and seems to really hate Hufflepuffs right now, but we were with him for quite a while, and didn’t seem to be involved at all.”

Terry nodded along as his friend spoke, admiring her logical mind. Padma really was underappreciated sometimes.

“One more thing, Miss Marple,” he said, and she blushed a little at the name. “What was the motive?”

“That’s exactly what I need to know,” she said. “Was it hate, or was it because of something Nathaniel did? Because choosing only one specific Ravenclaw to poison seems… odd.”

The group fell silent, trying to figure this out. Terry found himself finishing his toast, and reached for another slice, this time opting to pick up some jam as well. As he did, he noticed Michael looking a little sad despite the presence of this girlfriend back at his side. Hesitating only for a moment, he stood up and beckoned Michael over so they could talk outside where it was a little more private.

“What’s going on?” Terry said almost immediately. “You look like someone stole your teddy bear.”

“I don’t have one,” Michael said instantly, before huffing. “And everything is just fine. I talked to Lisa, and apologised for being grumpy. She apologised back, saying she had been grumpy too.”

“I guess there’s a lot of that going around, huh?” Terry raised an eyebrow. “Looks like you passed it on to Justin.”

Michael turned to Terry, his expression bleak and desperate, and Terry jumped a little. “I don’t know why he hates me so much. I tried being nice to him, and giving him advice, but he thinks I just want to make fun of him! We’re rivals, not enemies! He’s not supposed to actually hate me.”

The boy looked so upset that Terry gave him a hug right there in the middle of the (arguably quiet) corridor. What exactly had happened last night when he’d gone to search the kitchens?

“You faked the whole reaction, didn’t you?” he eventually realised. “You wanted to talk to him and see if he’d like to join your troupe of friends.”

“My troupe of friends?” Michael asked, still sounding a little sad from where he was resting his head on Terry's shoulder. “You say that like you aren’t one of them.”

“I am, and I’m proud of it too,” Terry said. “Look, I don’t know what Justin said to you to make you feel like he hates you, but you haven’t exactly helped your case. When have you ever helped him?”

Michael paused. “Well, last night, when he was all panicked about that hissing, I stepped up to help.”

“See, but that’s just last ni-” Terry stopped. “Wait, he was panicked about some kind of hissing?”

"The hooded person probably knew he wouldn’t like it,” Michael said. “Seems a little personal.”

The two friends released each other from the hug and Terry beamed at his friend. “You’re a genius!”

“I know, but why this time specifically?”

“Whoever it was knew about Justin being Petrified, which is common knowledge, sure, but the whole snake thing is personal,” Terry said, already going back to the table, Michael in tow. “Only one set of people know about Justin’s worry about snakes, and I only know about it because I’m pretty good friends with one of them.”

The others saw them coming and quieted to listen as Terry carried on.

“Only the Hufflepuffs know about the fact that snakes are a bit of a weak point for Justin,” he said excitedly. Justin choked on his water. “So the culprit must be a Hufflepuff!”

Padma grinned up at him from where she sat. “Narrowed it down already? We’ll figure out a reason soon enough, judging from these deductions!”

Terry and Padma, the resident detectives, high fived, totally oblivious to the worried looks that the Hufflepuffs were now sharing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: Do you prefer Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot? Or another?
> 
> I don't plan on making questions a habit, I'm just very curious about this.


	14. The last few clues fall into place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More detective work, but this time we see what Susan thinks of all this. Spoilers: It's not good

This couldn't be good. Susan knew that Hufflepuff was a strong suspect for this whole plot, but she couldn't bring herself to think that anyone she knew could be a murderer or poisoner. As they slowly recycled everything they'd learnt so far, she found herself assessing who it could possibly be. Not everyone was nice in her house, but that didn't mean they were malicious.

"We should tell Professor Sprout about this," she finally said aloud. "This is getting more and more serious."

"I'll come with you," said Mandy, and Susan sent her a smile.

The two friends polished off their plates and stood to leave, already discussing where they should start their search for Sprout.

"She left the teachers' table about half an hour ago, I think," Susan told Mandy as they left the hall. The halls seemed a lot less busy today, perhaps because of the fighting that occurred yesterday. "Should we start with her office?"

"Why not?" Mandy said, looking practically ecstatic.

"What's made you so happy?"

"We're solving the mystery! It's so exciting!"

Susan sighed. "Sure, as long as none of my friends get arrested."

Mandy gave her a sympathetic look. "You Hufflepuffs have the worst luck. But hey, at least we can tell a responsible adult about all of this now."

"That's fair," Susan replied, still unsatisfied.

After a few minutes of searching classrooms up and down the corridors near Sprout's office, they decided to check the greenhouses.

"She might be tending to the plants early or preparing for a class," Mandy suggested as they began the long trek down the hall.

Susan nodded, but was barely paying attention. Not far ahead of her, a group of older Ravenclaws were all crowded around a boy, who looked quite scared.

"Nathaniel?" Mandy frowned, noticing them. "Why do you have a…?" She indicated the crowd around him.

"Protection squad," one of the Ravenclaws around him supplied.

"Right," Mandy said. "Why?"

Nathaniel looked at her with haunted eyes and whispered: "I'm going to die."

Susan almost rolled her eyes. "We all are."

"No, you don't understand," Nathaniel whispered. "I saw a…"

"A what?"

"A Grim." As soon as Nathaniel uttered the word, one of his friends gasped loudly and someone down the corridor screamed despite not having heard him.

"What just happened?" Mandy said, looking just as confused as Susan felt. "Did they…? Why did you…? What…?"

Susan nodded. "What she said."

"What did she say?" one of the Ravenclaw boys muttered.

"It's an omen of death, and I keep seeing it around the grounds," Nathaniel said. "I'm doomed. I already almost got poisoned."

"We're protecting him," someone from the crowd around him added.

"Good luck with that," Mandy said, looking disbelieving. "I bet the totally dangerous dog will never get past your squad."

Nathaniel gave her a half-annoyed, half-terrified look and carried on walking, the crowd around him following with wands drawn.

The pair of girls tittered.

"Funny how he was the one poisoned, though," Susan observed, and Mandy stilled.

"Is that the reason?" the Ravenclaw whispered. "Maybe a Hufflepuff was trying to bring the old superstitions back again."

"But who would benefit from that?" Susan frowned.

Mandy had already doubled back and was heading for the dining hall. "I have to tell the others!"

"Wait, we need to tell-"

Thankfully, they were saved by the bell and had to split up for their first class.

***

A few hours later, as Team Ravenpuff reconvened for lunch, Susan narrated what had happened earlier. They all seemed fascinated by the theory, and Padma and Terry instantly started discussing how the dog could be involved.

"I'm kind of tired of all of this dog stuff after we turned into them the other day," Hannah mumbled, picking at her food.

Padma stared at her, eyes wide. "You did, didn't you?"

"There's too many dogs involved in this," Ernie said. "I don't like it."

"They're connected," Padma decided. "They have to be."

"Maybe Nathaniel was talking about the dog Ernie and Justin brought into the common room?" Ma suggested.

"Oh, I've got it!" Lisa exclaimed, sitting up. "The elf belongs to a Hufflepuff, and they-" She stopped suddenly, looking confused. "No, I lost it. It all seemed so clear for a second, and…"

The Ravenclaws all gave her understanding looks, and Michael wrapped an arm around her.

"Do you remember any of it?" he asked in a tone that kind of made Hannah want someone as close to her as Michael and Lisa were to each other.

"Just that we need to find that spell," Lisa shrugged.

"Which spell?"

"The protection spell, of course!"

Susan looked over at Hannah. "Didn't that… not work?"

"That was the wrong one," Padma said. "Someone ripped out the real spell so that whoever tried to cast the protection spell would instead cast some kind of location spell."

"And we concluded that dogs were something to do with Sirius Black," said Mandy, nodding.

Anthony added: "So you mean we need to find out who ripped out the spell?"

"Yep," Lisa grinned. "Let's go to the Hufflepuff common room!"

They all stood up together, a bunch of excited third years rising all of a sudden and terrifying half the people around them. Susan and Justin led the way, listening to their new friends chattering about where they could search and who might be responsible.

After a short walk, they reached the barrels and entered cautiously. It was practically empty, besides some sixth and seventh years in the corners, so they started a systematic search of the whole room.

Susan hoped that Lisa was wrong and that it wasn't really anyone in their house, despite the evidence to the contrary.

***

Twenty minutes later, Michael released a shout and held up a sheet of crumpled paper. He was sitting on a couch, cushions strewn everywhere and the panels upended.

"I've found it!" he shouted. "It was right here!"

Susan groaned inwardly but watched in silence anyway as the Ravenclaws continued their discussions and detective work.

This wasn't fun anymore, but at least it was almost over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done! It'll take a few days to finish up the conclusion, and then I can finish this and move onto smaller, more maintainable projects! Maybe even in other fandoms...


	15. Everyone gets a turn this time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery is concluded!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! I meant to post earlier but I had an extra 200 words to add and I kept procrastinating. I literally started a new work, a new series and kept writing a crossover in this time... yep, procrastination!

The moon hung low over the lawn as Mandy and her friends lay in a circle. From a distance, it might seem like a cult of sorts, but it was in fact a small meeting to work out who was responsible for the poisoning of Nathaniel, her housemate.

They slowly wrapped up their investigation, half delighted at solving the mystery and half disappointed with the results. Mandy shuffled closer to her friend, Susan, and asked what was wrong, to which she got the response that it simply wasn't what she had expected.

They got up and scattered away in pairs: Michael and Lisa to get a moonlight walk, Mandy and Susan to visit the Owlery for a letter from long ago, Terry and Ernie to discuss the plan for tomorrow's announcement, and Justin, Hannah, Anthony and Padma going back to their common rooms in groups of two.

As she walked away, Mandy took a breath of fresh air and smiled. Hopefully, this would be the end of all the conflict, and they could go back to their normal school life after this; a life full of laughter and magic.

She couldn't wait.

***

Lunch was almost cleared up, and the school was getting ready to go and spend the Saturday afternoons with their homework. Ernie stood up from where he was sitting at his table and cleared his throat loudly. At first, barely anyone glanced up, with only his best friends giving him a thumbs up.

"Alright, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, listen up," he said, raising his voice to shout over the consistently rising chatter. After a moment, he stepped onto the table and repeated himself.

This got people's attention.

"Not long ago, a Ravenclaw called Nathaniel Douglas was affected by something added to his food," Ernie began, noting that some Slytherins and Gryffindors were also staying to listen. "A look into the kitchens revealed that it was not a mistake: someone appeared to have attempted to poison him."

A quiet murmur rose as the watching students questioned his integrity or confirmed his words. Ernie waited for them to settle a little before continuing.

"We - that is Hannah, Susan, Justin and I - conducted a small investigation into this incident, as we were asked by Professor Sprout," he said, indicating those he named. "We also recruited some Ravenclaws, who helped us with the information and contributed significantly to finding the solution."

He nodded to the Ravenclaws and paused to see if all was going well.

Michael gave him an 'ok' sign and Ernie beamed before carrying on. Michael sat more comfortably in his seat, one arm around his girlfriend, as he listened to the show.

"It really began when my friends Transfigured themselves into dogs," Ernie said, sending a fond look to Susan and Hannah. "It was originally thought to be an accident, but it seemed that someone wanted them to mistakenly cast a different spell: a location spell. It was all set up to find the location of a mass murderer we have heard so much about recently: Sirius Black."

There were a few gasps and whispers, and Michael looked around with a smirk.  _ Wait until you hear who really did it _ , he thought.

"This student wanted to find Black themselves, and their first step was this. We still don't know how dogs are related to Black, but we do know that there's coincidentally been a black dog roaming around the grounds recently: a big one that resembles a Grim."

Michael nudged Terry, who gave Padma a look. With a subtle signal to someone across the room, Padma stood up on her section of the table as well. "This student must have seen the dog, along with Nathaniel, from which we can only guess that they thought Nathaniel was somehow linked to Sirius Black. But this was not the case."

The room went silent as they tried to process this, and Hannah marvelled at their patience. She continued to listen as Padma carried on.

"Regardless, the student went on to check if their assumptions were correct," the young Ravenclaw said. "Though they didn't consult a teacher, they tried to get the truth using Veritaserum, a truth potion."

Nathaniel suddenly interrupted from across the room. "Wait, that wasn't a poison?"

Grinning, Padma continued: "The potion was not brewed correctly, so Nathaniel reacted… badly. Basically, it didn't work and that's why this whole thing started."

"Well, at least no-one wants to kill me,” Nathaniel said, looking half-relieved and half-annoyed. “But - really? Why me?”

“Well, we figured out that it was a Hufflepuff,” Ernie said, “but it wasn’t because of house rivalry. We didn’t know it at the time, but soon we worked it out.”

“Wait, we already told you why,” Padma frowned. “Because of the whole Grim thing?”

Nathaniel shrugged. “I forgot. I was more focused on the part about the Veritaserum.”

“Speaking of which,” Padma replied, “it’s time for Susan to explain what she saw.”

Hannah gave her friend a light thump on the back as she stood up, grinning. “Have fun.”

Susan looked back down at her with a snort, and Hannah realised that the excitement in her eyes had taken over the disappointment. Then Susan looked at the waiting, murmuring crowd and said:

“Does anyone remember the Hufflepuff common room blowing up?”

The reaction was immediate. Snuggled in her boyfriend’s arms, Lisa felt a little safer from all the staring and shouting that seemed to fill the room. She watched in quiet awe as Padma, Susan and Ernie somehow managed to reign in the chaos by shouting something over their heads and stamping on the table.

“Listen up!” Padma was yelling, and Lisa felt a swell of pride as her friend brought the whole room’s attention to her. “The story isn’t over! Don’t you want to know who did it?”

“Why not just tell us!” shouted Yutaka. For once, Luke seemed to be in agreement.

“Yeah, what’s up with the whole Sherlock Holmes reveal?” he added.

Susan scowled. “We knew you wouldn’t listen to the whole explanation, and just jump to conclusions.” She cleared her throat. “Now, the whole explosion was caused by accident. A friend of ours was trying to brew a potion. She didn’t tell us what exactly it was, but we figured it out: Veritaserum.”

Lisa smirked. She’d worked out this particular part, and had been glad for the extra reading she had been doing when they all praised her. Michael, noticing this, gave her a quick wink. So he at least remembered  _ this _ , she thought.

Meanwhile, Justin was watching from his spot. He still didn’t like Michael, but… well, the boy was just about acceptable. At least he’d tried to help him. Turning back to where Padma was describing how Lisa had figured out the link between the two instances of Veritaserum, he tried not to think about how he was the least satisfied of the group after all of this. Why didn’t he have friends outside of Hufflepuff? He wanted to now. But was it too late?

“As it turns out,” Padma was saying, “Our friend has a house elf here. She brought him with her, as some kind of protection or comfort perhaps, and used him to get to the kitchens undetected one night. She put some of the attempt at Veritaserum into a portion of pie and ensured that her elf would take it directly to Nathaniel.”

She continued to fill in the gaps, and Justin sighed as he almost fell asleep. He was  _ so _ tired. Honestly, why did they have to have a secret meeting at midnight? How would he get through his lessons today after all this?

In the back of his mind, he acknowledged many students rising as they suddenly searched for answers but shouting out their many questions and accusations.

“We’ll tell you who it is if you all sit down!” Anthony yelled from his seat, internally shaking his head at how immaturely all of these people were acting. Why were they so worked up? It wasn’t murder, just a huge misunderstanding that  _ looked  _ a bit like attempted murder! “Calm down!”

Ernie gave him a strange look. “What he said, sure. Just give us a moment.”

Slowly, the room quieted, with many students checking the time or muttering in annoyance at the third years who had hijacked their attention. The first lesson must have started by now, Anthony realised, but nobody looked inclined to move. In fact, the number of people here seemed to have somehow doubled. _How many people are in this school?_ , he thought.

“Who was it?” Nathaniel asked, and Anthony supposed he was the one who deserved the truth more than anyone else. “Who poisoned me?”

“The person responsible was someone who thought they could be the hero, the subtle student who would solve this quickly,” Padma said. She really was dragging this out to make it dramatic, and Anthony had to give her credit for how well she was doing it. He held his breath despite knowing exactly whose name she was going to say. “Our friend: Poppy Caxton.”

***

Professor Sprout looked a little unimpressed, but mostly relieved. “You didn’t think to come and tell us teachers what was going on before making a dramatic reveal that resulted in a student being almost beaten up by a group of angry Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws?”

Susan shuffled awkwardly, avoiding everyone’s gazes. After a few seconds, with none of her friends having said anything, she mumbled. “I tried to.”

She quickly risked a glance at Ernie, Hannah and Justin, who were all looking at her with various unreadable, wide-eyed expressions. She groaned inwardly.

“We solved it in the end, anyway,” she said, a little louder this time. “And nobody really got hurt. So…”

Sprout smiled. “You’re right, but next time, please tell us. I’ll get Dumbledore to work out how many house points you’ll all get.”

Susan and her friends exchanged glances. There was now way Dumbledore would give any non-Gryffindors more than about five house points each, at a stretch. She  _ loved  _ house prejudice.  _ Absolutely loved _ it.

The Hufflepuffs left the office in slightly improved spirits and met their Ravenclaw friends in the hallway. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley went rushing past, ignoring the whole group, and they all chuckled at his obliviousness.

“Do you think he even noticed what’s been happening?” Mandy asked them, a grin on her face as usual as she hooked an arm over Susan’s shoulders in greeting.

His eyes still on the retreating backs of the two Gryffindors, Terry shook his head, thinking about how little Harry had been paying attention recently. “Not a chance. They’ll be more stressed about Sirius Black than any of the rest of us.”

“What, even more than Poppy, who literally Transfigured us to try and find him?” Hannah said, her voice lighter than it had been for days.

Terry frowned as he remembered what had happened to Poppy. After they had protected her from the attacking students, they immediately escorted her to Professor McGonagall, who they knew would be able to take her straight to Dumbledore. Thankfully, she had gotten off relatively lightly, but that didn’t mean the other students would forget so easily. Terry felt a little sorry for her - after all, she had only been trying to help.

He turned to Padma and the two stepped away from the group.

“Do you think it was the right thing to do?” he asked quietly. “You know, revealing Poppy as the culprit.”

“We would have had to at some point,” Padma replied after a short pause, as if she too had been thinking about it. Terry hoped so. “I’d rather it was this way, with some defence on her side, rather than through rumours and whispers like with Harry last year. Not that all of that was true, of course.”

Terry nodded, feeling a little more happy with their decision now. “You’re right. Thanks.”

Padma gave him a grin and turned to the others. “Hey, guys! What do you think of going to Hogsmeade together next time?”

There were agreeing cheers from the others, and Padma chuckled as they immediately started planning what to do next trip. She gave her friends one last glance before heading down the corridors, noticing Mandy follow after a short hesitation. Mandy stopped her once they had turned a corner and she noticed that the other Ravenclaw looked quite confused.

“What now?” Mandy asked. “Solving another mystery?”

Padma laughed outright this time. “No way! I need a nap!”

“Of course you do,” Mandy said, but she looked amused, and Padma realised that perhaps this whole mystery had helped bring them closer after all.

And that felt really, really good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you're confused about the plot (because I rushed the end a bit, sorry!), drop a comment and I should reply soon!
> 
> If you made it this far, you're either very loyal or just skipped here. Either way, thanks for the time!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please comment with feedback!


End file.
